1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a RJ modular jack, and more particularly, to a RJ modular jack configured by a wafer on which coupling traces are provided so as to create electrical coupling between selected contact terminals disposed within the wafer.
2. Description of Related Art
To comply with a high speed trend of data transmission, electrical devices are required to have better performance. Performance requirements have significantly increased to a level identified by industry standards as Category 5. The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) in corporation with the Electronic Industries Association (EIA) has developed a proposed standard for Category 5 components. In such high speed applications, electrical coupling between adjacent terminals would create a great problem. Unless the electrical coupling between the terminals could be controlled effectively within the connector to an accepted level, it is highly unlikely that the connector can be used for long time.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,341 issued to James Hyland on Sep. 10, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as Hyland '341 patent) discloses an RJ modular connector comprises a housing and a terminal insert received in the housing. The terminal insert includes a pair of wafers, a plurality of conductive traces formed on an inner surface of the wafer, and a plurality of terminals sandwiched between the pair of wafers. One conductive trace of the plurality of traces has a body portion aligned with one selected terminal and a connection portion attached to another selected terminals thereby establishing electrical coupling between the two selected terminals by the trace.
Providing two wafers would increase the manufacturing cost of the connector and complicate the assembly of the connector. The terminals is attached to the connection portion of the trace for contacting with the trace, thus the electrical coupling among the terminals is unreliable.
Hence, an improved electrical connector is required to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the related art.